Amazon invited certain "strategic" sellers to an event being held in conjunction with its 5th annual Accelerate seller conference that's taking place this year on September 17-19 in Seattle. Service provider ASGTG, which also hosts events for Amazon sellers, obtained a copy of the invitation and published the following excerpt on Twitter:

A reader recently shared one of his pet peeves about eBay's customer service, and it had us wondering how the services of the major marketplaces compare.

"If you are lucky enough to get through to eBay's Customer Service line, why are they required to come back to the line EVERY 2 MINUTES to ask you to continue to hold," the seller wrote. "Isn't it more ANNOYING than REASSURING? Not to mention the actual time involved to do every two minutes?"

But his email conveyed a more concerning message - the difficulty in accessing eBay customer service in the first place. Conventional ... Read More

An Amazon seller shared a cautionary tale about a buyer who used social media to extort them, and it demonstrates a potential downside of using outside channels to promote marketplace accounts.

The seller explained that someone who purchased one of their items on Amazon sent them a threat via Instagram stating that if the seller didn't refund them twice the cost of the product they had purchased, they would leave a bad review on Amazon.

The buyer didn't communicate with the seller through Amazon's buyer/seller messaging because they knew Amazon would be able to see their threats, the seller explained.

When the seller ... Read More

In December, Amazon announced a new "low inventory fee" coming to FBA sellers this year. As we reported at the time, sellers already faced fees for sending in too much inventory to Amazon fulfillment centers, and with the new change, it means this year they face fees if their inventory levels drop too low.

The new fee generated a lot of controversy, but we recently heard from a seller who explains a situation that makes the fees ... Read More

A California woman pleaded guilty on Friday to defrauding the US Postal Service of $150 million by allegedly using fake postage to ship tens of millions of parcels to customers that came to the US from China-based logistics businesses. That's bound to make sellers fume given the high cost of postage for domestic shippers. Sellers who have access to below-market shipping costs can lower their prices, giving them an advantage over other sellers (whether or not they're aware of any fraudulent activity on the part of their vendors).

The US Department of Justice said the defendant, who has been ... Read More